Liberal MP Andrew Hastie pulled out of the Liberal Party leadership race on Friday, as new details emerge this morning that supporters of Angus Taylor pressured Hastie to park his leadership ambitions.
Fresh details of the Liberal Party dispute follow a covert meeting in Melbourne on Thursday, held ahead of the funeral of Liberal MP Katie Allen, where powerbrokers sought to end a debate over which MP should challenge Ley following the breakdown of the partnership with the Nationals.
Hastie pulled out of the race on Friday, a day after the meeting in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs where leading right-wingers Senator James Paterson and former MP Michael Sukkar made the case that Hastie, 43, had years ahead of him and it was Taylor’s time. Others in the meeting, including frontbencher Jonno Duniam, wanted Hastie to contest the leadership.
Taylor, the former shadow treasurer under Peter Dutton, has been talking to Hastie’s supporters to soften the blow since the West Australian bowed out. Ultimately, the group would back any right-wing candidate over Ley in a ballot, even if some of the zeal has been taken out of the conservative push for a spill.
Read the full update from federal political correspondent Paul Sakkal.
